Address by Susan Pascoe AM

Commissioner, Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission,

at the launch of the Australian Catholic Bishops’

Social Justice Statement 2017–2018

Everyone’s Business:

Developing an inclusive and sustainable economy

Mary MacKillop Place, North Sydney, 7 September 2017

Good morning everyone. I’m delighted to be here for this important launch. Can I thank Auntie Elsie for the welcome to country and add my respects to elders past present and hopefully somewhere in the future.

Bishop Vincent, Fr Frank Brennan and other distinguished guests, I’m proud to be co-launching the 2017–2018 Social Justice Statement Everyone’s Business: Developing an inclusive and sustainable economy. You’ve all got copies with you. I’ve had the advantage of a pre-read: I must say I’m very proud to be associated with this document.

I’m old enough to remember the motivational impact of the 1992 Bishops’ Statement Common Wealth for the Common Good – an important wake-up call to Australians to remain true to our egalitarian core and strive to ensure that the fruits of the land’s rich inheritance and our own endeavours are distributed equitably. Many of you no doubt will also remember how proud we were to be Catholic when that Statement was released and the great impetus it gave to our work.

This year’s Statement, Everyone’s Business, picks up the conversation 25 years later. The intervening period has seen unparalleled economic growth that positions Australia as the second-wealthiest – and the second-healthiest – place on the planet. And yet we share with many other developed economies rising levels of inequality and growing populism. It’s timely for the Bishops to make this Statement.

How is Australia managing with its current social, economic and civic circumstances? There is a sharp analysis of our economic structures in this Statement. Rather than re-state it, I look at those groups in civil society which support Australians not proportionately enjoying the benefits of our prosperity.

In my current role as Commissioner for the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (the ACNC), I’m fortunate to actively engage with many of the 54,500 registered charities that work to fundraise in Australia to do good for others. Our research shows that the income in the sector last year was more than $134 billion, that collectively charities employ 1.1 million people, making them the second-biggest employer in Australia after retail, and that some 3 million volunteers support the work of charities.

Around 30 per cent of charities are religious bodies and this figure is consistent with the figures in other Commonwealth countries. There is great diversity in the sector with 37 per cent of charities having incomes under $50,000 per annum, and others operating multi-million and indeed multi-billion dollar business-like operations. And indeed when I was Director of Catholic Education and Chair of the Catholic Education Commission of Victoria we were a $1.5-billion-dollar enterprise. So you can see a very wide differentiation.

Charities are spread across the vast Australian land mass roughly in proportion to population.

After five years at the charity regulator (and I’m finishing in three weeks so this is almost a swan-song), I can say confidently that the overwhelming majority of charities are well-managed with dedicated and competent paid and unpaid staff. Many work in the areas traditionally associated with charity: welfare, disability, homelessness, mental illness and marginalised groups. These are the people of concern in this Bishops’ Statement.

The charities that exist to support people in need are themselves navigating major change as governments change funding models for areas like disability and aged care, as competition for government funding and donor dollars tighten and as the numbers needing support swell.

Many non-profit agencies across the country are having to work in different ways to ensure their own survival. I recently visited a charity working with people struggling with addiction. Funding this service is an ongoing battle and discussionsare underway for some sharing of services with other charities. This is a residential facility with many of the participants separated from their children, unable to care for them due to their alcoholism or drug addiction. The staffwho work with them give of themselves professionally and emotionally. They know how committed the residents are to regaining their lives but they also know how the serpent of addiction or the black dog of depression can retake them.

It’s inspirational to watch both the staff and the participants as they work creatively together towards recovery. This agency is doing complex, expensive, high-risk work in an area where the two other sectors – government and commercial operators – fear to tread.

The ACNC Act has an object that the regulator will support the sustainability of an innovative, independent, robust and vibrant not-for-profit sector. It’s worth dwelling on each of these descriptors: innovative, independent, robust and vibrant.

The vignette above, of the charity working with residents to overcome addiction, is one that illustrates innovative practice. Let me use the launch of this important Statement today to look at another of the descriptors of charities in Australia, and that’s independent.

The issue of independence is one attracting attention at the moment. Charities have always advocated for their mission or purpose and charity law supports their right to do so. However, there is debate around the levels of advocacy that charities should be allowed to engage in,potentially limiting their capacity to highlight the plight of those without a voice or to sound the alarm when institutional, economic or social arrangements begin to cause harm.

It’s pleasing in this context that the Bishops have raised their voice for the poor. They have taken the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard to illustrate the Christian commitment to dignified work for all. At a time when they are somewhat beleaguered, and could lay low, they are speaking for the marginalised and the vulnerable and I applaud them for this. Thank you, Bishop Vincent, on behalf of your fellow Bishops.

The Bishops are not alone. Other influential groups such as the Australian Council for Social Services, the Australian Council for International Development, and the Community Council for Australia, are also publicly advocating for full participation in Australia’s economic and social arrangements and for the redress of disadvantage here and overseas. And individual agencies such as Catholic Social Services Australia (of whom Fr Frank Brennan is the Chief Executive), Oxfam, Caritas and Red Cross all add their independent commentary in service of the voiceless.

This Bishops’ Statement aims to restore the moral compass to discussions of the economy with five basic principles:

  • First, people and nature are not mere tools of production.
  • Second, economic growth alone cannot ensure inclusive and sustainable development.
  • Third, social equality must be built into the heart of the economy.
  • Fourth, businesses must benefit all society, not just shareholders.
  • And finally, the excluded and vulnerable must be included in decision-making.

The Statement then illustrates the alignment between these principles and the OECD’s Inclusive Growth Initiative and the UN’s Agenda 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. There is a high level of congruence between Church and society here, both seeking to constructively map the way forward to more equitable and sustainable circumstances for all.

The Bishops have spoken. They are using their moral authority and their right in charity law to independently advocate on one of their core purposes.

Let me finish in using their words, and I quote from the Statement:

We are called today to redefine progress in Australia with policies to achieve development which is fair, ecologically sustainable and economically efficient …

After a quarter of a century of continuous economic growth, we, the Catholic bishops of Australia, repeat the call we made in 1992. We call for concerted action to address increasing inequality, persistent poverty, unemployment and homelessness and the emergence of an ‘underclass’ of gravely disadvantaged people …

We must do more. We are called to give voice to those who have been cast aside and, in solidarity, to call for an inclusive economy at the service of all.

I am very proud to be one of the co-launchers of this year’s Statement. Thank you.